Emergency operating mechanism



Jan. 4, 1955 Filed April 23, 1949 C. A. OLCOTT EMERGENCY OPERATING MECHANISM 4 Sheets-Shaer. 1

BY I

ATTORNEY Jan. 4, 1955 c. A. OLCOTT 2, 8,60

EMERGENCY OPERATING MECHANISM Filed April 23, 1949 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 mum/24 INVENTOR. 0/4215: A. 01 carr @[JFMA ATTORNEY Jan. 4, 1955 c. A. OLCOTT 2,698,602

EMERGENCY OPERATING MECHANISM Filed April 23, 1949 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 I I l I I i I IIIIIIIIII INVENTOR. (mass ,4. 0.46077 1 .64. BY i? 53 ,(ZZZ f ad mtg:

A T TOPNE Y Jan. 4, 1955 Filed April 23. 1949 C. A. OLCOTT EMERGENCY OPERATING MECHANISM 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR. 6/01/2155 A. Ourorr ATTORNEY United States Patent" 6 EIVIERGENCY OPERATING: MECHANISM Charles A. Olcot't, Westv Milford, N. J.

ApplicationApril '23, 1949,jS'erial' No. 89353" 2 Claims.- (Chill-38) the usual pneumatic means for opening and closing acharging gate of this character when it is desired to" close the gate manually.

In the manufacture ofsugar, prior to the centrifuging stage, the magmais'mixed heated' a'nd' stirred ina tank called the mixer. This tank has a spout in its-bottom portion which overhangs the'op'eningin the top ofthebasket of a sugar centrifugal. The terminus of the spout is provided with a' movable" charging gate which is operated in a substantially vertical path to permit the How of the warm magma into the centrifugal basket or to cut off this flow. In widely used apparatus of this type, the gate is movedby'an air-operated cylinder which is controlled by a four-way valve having a hand lever. The cylinder is customarily anchored to a fixed point on the structure andthus, if anything should happen to inter-- fere with the operation of the cylinder when the'gate is opened, it is difficult or impossible to close this gate and wet sugar runs out of the mixer; thu's-rnaking-a very expensive mess to'cl'ean up; The'presentinvention relates to the provision of means for quickly closing' the' gate even though it is being held open byair pressure acting against the piston controlling the normal opening and closing of the gate. It is, of course,- obvious that the specific structures described in detail herein are merely given by way of example.

The above-mentioned and related objects are attained r in accordance with a preferred-embodiment of the inventionby providing, asan emergency means of closing a centrifugal charging gate ('even though the, an piston which normally closes the gate is in its 'fully retracted position corresponding to an open gate), a'manually operated lever connected in the usual gate-operating lever system in such a way that the air cylinder is moved, by the operation of the manuall'ever, as-a strut toclose the gate. In this arrangement, the whole. cylinder is moved down and the gate is closedwithout having to overcome the air pressure in the cylinder.

In a first alternative embodiment, the air cylinder is permanently connected to a lever pivotally connected at one end to a stationary. part of the structure and held in place at the other end by the manuallyoperated lever but the movement 'ofthe manually operated lever quickly releases the cylinder anchor allowingthe cylinder. to quickly move in a-downward direction toclose" the? gate.

In a second alternative embodiment, the movement of the manually-operated lever causes the severing."(by'a knife edge attachedto'or controlled by the lever), of a flexible tube carrying air-pressure to the lowerpo'rtion of the air cylinder. The severingtof thistube. vents air pressure from the underside of the cylinder and removes any tendency of the-cylinder to hold the gate open.

Theinvention' willbe more" readily understood-by. referring to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation, with parts in crosssection, of a preferred embodiment of the invention, the apparatusbeing shown with the centrifugal charging gate. open; Fig. 2 is a top view of aportionof the HPPQI'EIUTSOT'.

Fig: -1,- showing thearrangement of levers and handle Fig'.--3- is asideelevationof the major portion of th'e; apparatus of Fig. 1; shown with-the charginggate closed by the-air cylinder;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the major-portionof' theapparatus' of Fig. l, showingthe charging gate'c'lose'd bythe safety mechanismof 'this invention;

Fig; 5 is a side elevation, with parts in cross-section, of 'a second embodiment of the invention, the apparatus being shown with the centrifugal charging gate open;

Fig. 6 is'a side elevation of the apparatus of Fig; 5 shown with the centrifugal charging gate closed by-sa'fety mechanism in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 6A shows, in plan view, a detail of the arrange ment of Fig. 5;

Fig.- 7 isa side elevation; with parts in cross-section, ofa third embodiment of the invention, the apparatus being-shown with the centrifugal charging gate open; 4

Figi- 8 is-a detail view'to'illustrate the operation of the' arrangement of Fig. 7; and

Fig. 9 is a side elevation of the apparatus of Fig. 7 shown with the centrifugal charging gate closed by safety mechanismin accordance with the invention.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, Figs. 1 to 4,-inclusive, show, by way of example for purposes of illustration, a centrifugal installation it embodying a safety mechanism for closing a charging gate by manual means. The installation 19 includes a mixer tank 11 provided with aspout 12 having its end remote from the mixer closed by a gate-13 which is normally adapted to beraised and lowered in a substantially vertical path by a pneumatic operating mechanism to be later described in -detail but which includes an air cylinder 14. The arrangement also includes a preferred embodiment of an emergency mechanism, in accordance with the invention, for manually closing the gate when the pneumatic mechanism fails to operate properly. A sugar centrifugal machine 15 forminga part of the equipment 10 is located with respect to the spout 12 so that magma can"flow"there'from into the opening 16 in the top of the basket -17 ofthe machine 15. The basket is surrounded by a suitable outer casing 13 and is supported and rotated by a spindle 19 which is driven by any well-known means such as, for example, an individual electric motor 20positioned above it.

The mixer'll can be of any known type. By way of example, it may be provided with rotating paddles (not shown) 'in a manner well-known to'the workers in the art. The spout 12 is attached to the mixer 11 at the lowermost part thereof. Means (not shown) for heating or'stirring the magma while it is in the spout. can be pro vided; if desired.

The gate 13 is located at the end ofthe spout remote from tank it; it is adapted to be raised and lowered b'y'a system of levers 36 and 37 operated by the pneumatic cylinder 14: The cylinder 14 surrounds a piston "21 which is. operated in either direction, depending on' the air supplied to it through flexible pipes or hoses 22 and 23 which are adapted to be connected to a source of compressed air 24 through a four-way valve 25. Thecylinder 14 isanchored to a pin 28 extending Between side bracket members 27 riveted or otherwise attached to a fork casting 26. This casting has a hub 29'which acts as a bearing for the shaft 30 which is firmly supported from the spout 12 by support member 31. The hub 29 has a projection29A which engages a similat projection 43A on the hub 40 of lever 36 when it is ,desired to close the gate by: the emergency apparatus.

Attached to the fork casting 26 is a handle 32 which is large enough in the dimension in the plane of Fig. l to be rigid'but which-is flexible in the plane at right angles to Fig. l as indicated bythe'dottedline position 32A in Fig.2. The handle 32 normally rests in a notch 33 inabracket member 34attached to a stationary support mom-- -ber35but, when it is desired to operate the lever 32,

it can be easily sprung sidewise to be freed from the notch 33. Movement of the handle 32 moves the entire cylinder 14 downwardly (as a strut) and also moves levers 36 and 37 by the engagement of projection 40A F atented Jam-4,

by projection 29A. The operation of levers 36 and 37 downwardly closes gate 13 even though the piston 21 is in the upper part of the cylinder 14 and held there by the air pressure applied to the underside of the piston. In the drawings, Fig. 1 shows the position of the gate 13 when in the open position just before the magma pours forth onto the pan 38 to tilt it downwardly; Fig. 3 shows the position of the gate 13 when it is closed by the normal action of the air pressure applied to the upper side of the piston 21 (through flexible pipe 22) to force it downwardly; while Fig. 4 shows the position of the various elements of Fig. 1 when the emergency or safety apparatus shown in that figure is operated.

The operation of the arrangement shown in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive will now be described. Assume that the gate 13 is in the raised position (that shown in Fig. 1). Air pressure is being applied to the underside of piston 21 fromthe source 24 through the four-way valve 25 and flexible pipe 23, the pressure on the upper side of piston 21 being vented through flexible pipe 22, valve 25 and vent pipe 39. In normal operation, if it is desired to close the gate 13, the valve 25 is turned to the position shown in Fig. 3 wherein air is applied to the upper side of the piston 21 through pipe 22 and the air pressure from the under side of the piston is vented through flexible pipe 23, valve 25 and vent pipe 39. However, sometimes the normal operating mechanism, for one reason or another, fails to work. If the mechanism were in the position shown in Fig. 1 (except that the flowing magma tilts the pan 38 downward) and it is desired to close the gate 13 quickly and the air apparatus to force the piston 21 downwardly does not work, it is next to impossible to close the gate manually against the air pressure on the underside of piston 21 were it not for the emergency mechanism. With the emergency mechanism provided, it is only necessary to move the lever 32 sidewise (upfromthe plane of Fig. l) and then downwardly, thus moving the entire cylinder 14 downward as a strut (without changing the relative position of the cylinder 14 and the piston 21) and moving the levers 36 and 37 downwardly to close the gate 13 (as shown in Fig. 4) by having the projection 29A on the hub 29 of the fork casting 26 engage the projection 40A of the hub 40 of the lever 36. After the emergency has passed, the handle 32 is replaced in the position shown in Fig. l.

A first alternative embodiment is shown in Figs. and 6, Fig. 5 showing the apparatus in the gate-open position while Fig. 6 shows the same apparatus in the position where the gate has been closed by a second form of emergency closing mechanism. In the arrangement of Figs. 5 and 6, elements similar to those in the arrangement of Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, have been given the same reference characters. In this alternative embodiment, instead of the cylinder 14 being attached to the fork casting 26, it is fastened (by the pin 28) to a separate casting or lever 41 which is pivoted to the support 35 at point 43. When the lever 32 is in the notch 33, the member 41 is held in the position shown in Fig. 5, the end 42 of the member 41 being supported by lug 53 on the inside of the handle 32 (see Fig. 6A), and, if no emergency arises to require a sudden operation of the gate 13 to the closed position, the piston 21 is operated up and down to close and open the gate 13 by air pressure in the manner described above in connection with the arrangement of Figs. 1 to 4, inclusive. However, in an emergency with the gate 13 held open by air pressure, the handle 32 is released from its notch 33 and moved downwardly, thus releasing the support of the end 42 of the casting 41 provided by the lug 53 and allowing the entire member 41 to swing downwardly about the pivot 42 in the manner indicated in Fig. 6. Since the piston 21 no longer exerts any force to hold the gate 13 open, the handle 32, through its hub 29 and the jaw clutch arrangement 29A, 40A described above, acts to engage lever 36 and turn shaft 30 and cause the gate 13 to be lowered, the cylinder 14 hanging free during this operation. After the emergency, the handle 32 is replaced in the position shown in Fig. 5.

A second alternative embodiment is represented by Figs. 7, 8 and 9, Fig. 7 showing the gate 13 open, Fig. 9 showing the gate closed by the emergency apparatus and Fig. 8 illustrating the operation of a portion of the apparatus. In this arrangement also, those parts having the same reference characters as those in Fig. 1 are similar thereto. This embodiment depends for its successful and quick operation upon the release of the air at the underside of piston 21 by cutting the flexible air hose 23. To accomplish this cutting, a knife blade 50 is mounted in the handle 32. The hose 23 is held up by a support 51 and when, in an emergency, it is desired to cut this hose, the lever 32 is swung out of the notch 33 and operated downwardly toward and past the support 51, severing the hose 23 in a manner analagous to the operation of a paper cutter. The air from the under side of the piston 21 thus escapes to the atmosphere as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 9. Fig. 8 illustrates the position of the knife 50 at the start of the cutting operation. The release of the air pressure from the underside of the piston 21 allows the piston to drop and thus to close the gate 13 quickly. In this embodiment the cylinder 14 is fastened to the support 35 by pin 28 engaging bracket 52 attached to this support.

Of the three embodiments disclosed herein, the first one (Figs. 1 to 4) is, in most situations, preferable since everything is restored to its original condition merely by raising the handle 32 and allowing it to snap in its notch 33. However, in some cases the second one (Figs. 5 and 6) may be preferred since this arrangement has a separate anchor for the cylinder 14 and this anchor can be made of very heavy construction to withstand the air pressure and may therefore be more solid than an anchor mounted on the manually operated lever 32 (as in Figs. 1 to 4). The third arrangement (Figs. 7, 8 and 9) has the advantage of being the least expensive and is elfective if the jamming of the cylinder 14 is due to some trouble in the valve 25; but if the stoppage is due to a plugging of the outlet of the cylinder 14 itself then cutting this line is not effective. In all the arrangements, it will be noted there is a manual means of closing the gate 13 and means, responsive to the movement of this manual means, to remove any tendency of the air cylinder to keep the gate open.

Various other embodiments, and also changes in the embodiments described, are possible without departing from the spirit of the invention, the scope of which is indicated in the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination, a fluid pressure cylinder, a piston therein adapted to have linear movement in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the cylinder, means to attach said piston to an element adapted to be moved from one position to another, a lever connected to a pivot near one end thereof and to said cylinder at a point between the pivot and the free end of said lever remote fromthe pivot, and means for locking the free end of said lever in a fixed position while said piston is normally operating to move said element, said locking means comprising a support member having a notch therein in which said free end of the lever is normally mounted and from which it can be released by a sidewise movement of said free end to operate the entire piston-cylinder combination as a strut to move said element in an emergenciy when the piston is prevented fromoperating normal y.

2. The combination of elements as in claim 1 in which said cylinder and lever are mounted so that they move downward by gravity when the free end of the lever is released from the notch.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,213,457 Candler Ian. 23, 1917 1,370,924 Smith Mar. 8, 1921 2,090,373 Neum-an Aug. 17, 1937 2,105,059 Steps Ian. 11, 1938 2,348,460 Fennema May 9, 1944 2,352,140 Trott June 20, 1944 2,352,334 Macomber June 27, 1944 2,402,885 Gilfillan et al June 25, 1946 2, 52,599 Paulus Nov. 2, 1948 2,503,956 Lisle et al Apr. 11, 1950 

